Ship quality assurance standard

To reduce the chance of safety incidents, accidents or oil spills from bulk transport ships we use, we introduced a company-wide ship quality assurance standard in 2003. It defines how we vet (check the safety) of the vessels that we use. We will not use any vessel unless it has been inspected and approved in line with the standard.

Umm Slal LNG tanker, Nakilat fleet, Milford Haven, UK

The majority of the world’s fleet of ships are operated safely. However a significant minority are not.

The standard is there to avoid Shell using a sub-standard ship, and so reducing the risk of:

harm to people;

harm to the environment (for example, from oil spills);

damage to Shell’s reputation; and

financial claims on Shell.

This standard applies to all vessels used for the bulk transportation of products.